Suchada Chaiwechakarn, MD, is the new obstetrical and gynecological specialist at the Ashtabula Women’s Center.
A former Chief Resident for OB/GYN at Lincoln Medical Center and Mental Health Center in New York, Dr. Chaiwechakarn said she is looking forward to caring for women in Northeast Ohio.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn said women should make Pap tests and pelvic exams a regular part of their health calendar. Both are valuable tests when it comes to a woman’s preventative healthcare.
“Women over the age of 21 should have regularly scheduled visits with their OB/GYN that includes these tests,” she said.
From age 21 to 29, a woman should have a Pap test scheduled every two years. That frequency decreases as a woman ages.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn said she knows the exams can sometimes be uncomfortable, but they are necessary for early detection of cancer and infections.
From 1955 to 1992, the number of deaths related to cervical cancer dropped by almost 70 percent, according to the American Cancer Society, thanks to women getting regularly scheduled exams.
The Pap test is usually done during a pelvic exam when the doctor looks at and feels a woman’s reproductive organs. This exam can be an early detection for a variety of reproductive-system infections including sexually-transmitted diseases, yeast infections, fibroids or cysts, or the cause of abdominal or pelvic pain.
In addition to examining the vulva, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries, a physician will also examine the bladder and rectum for signs of injury, disease or infection.
However, the basic pelvic exam will not detect cancerous cells, Dr. Chaiwechakarn said.
For this, a Pap smear is needed.
The doctor will use a small brush or scraper to collect a sample of cells from the cervix. Usually this procedure is painless, although some women find it uncomfortable since the sample must be taken from inside.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn said women who are over the age of 30 can reduce the frequency of Pap smears to once every three years, if they have had negative results for cancer and have not changed sexual partners since the last Pap test.
However, a pelvic exam should be part of an annual checkup, she cautioned.
There are several risk factors that may require you to have a Pap test more often, including a positive for cancer, being HIV-positive, or having a mother who was exposed to DES while pregnant.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn said that even women who are no longer of child-bearing years should still have annual pelvic exams, and regular Pap tests.
This also holds true for women who have had hysterectomies. A hysterectomy is the partial or complete removal of the reproductive organs.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn said she takes great effort to minimize the discomfort or embarrassment a woman may feel during a pelvic exam or Pap test.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn earned her medical degree through Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, in 2002 and is specially trained to perform colposcopy, an advanced procedure used to examine women for cervical cancer and other signs of disease.
Dr. Chaiwechakarn is accepting new patients at the Ashtabula Women’s Center, 524 W. 24th St. in Ashtabula. To schedule an appointment, phone 440-997-6915.